09/25/2012

We are very pleased to announce that Ron Hock, the legendary tool maker from Fort Bragg California, is visiting New York for the first time in decades. Ron and his wife Linda are mostly coming for a vacation but we refused to miss the opportunity, and they are generous folk, so we have arranged an afternoon and evening to give everyone a chance to meet them and do fun stuff.

A Plane Clinic. Ron Hock was the pioneer in offering aftermarket irons for vintage Stanley and other planes. While a stock Stanley plane can work great, with the thicker blade that Hock offers, along with his cap irons you can push the performance way way up. And gosh knows that an old Stanley, all tuned up, with it's Brazillian Rosewood handles is a wonderful site to behold and use it. If you don't own an old Stanley we will have ones to show you what a plane can do. If you have an old plane and it's not working the way it should Ron has seen just about every plane problem on the planet and he can diagnose your problems.

A Short Presentation and a Chance to Say Hello. That's exactly what it sounds like. A chance to meet one of the great pioneers in modern woodworking and hear what he has to say about things. Ron will also have copies of his book The Perfect Edge for signing, or if you already have a copy you can bring it to be signed.

I'll post more details about the events and maybe some background information about spokeshaves and plane performance in the days ahead. It's an event not to be missed! See you there!

In other news last week The Work Magazine Reprint Project hit its six month anniversary. The Sept. 21, 1889 issue has some cool stuff about how to make ball bearing but the two articles I think are of most interest to woodworkers are "Some Facts About Mahogany" (by the great David Denning) and "Why Furniture is Veneered". I know there is a lot of stuff in each issue that is just too crazy but I always browse everything and every issue has had at least one or two grabbers. I am also hoping that the short article "Plain and Decorative House Painting" is a prelude to a series as I constantly get asked questions about historic painting and I know nothing about the subject. Two weeks ago the blog had a link to a separate download to the index for Volume 1 which will give you an idea about the sheer awesome breath of topics the magazine covers.

Question for Ron
I am in Maine and cannot get to NY- sorry to miss this
I have a Stanley 4 1/2, purchased new in england in 1980, and a Hock blade and chip breaker. The blade cap will not fit securely over the Hock blade and chipbreaker - I can use the Stanley chipbreaker and the Hock blade, the Stanley blade and even a Ray Iles blade without problems. It appears that the screw holding Hock chipbreaker to blade protrudes too far. What is the simplest fix, please. New cap iron or shorter screw.